Professor Emmanuel Onyebuchi Ezeani who teaches Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in this interview by JUSTICE NWAFOR, speaks on issues pertaining to the Nigerian civil war.
Looking at the issues that led to the war and the current situation, are we where we were?
As to the issues that led to the war, there are remote and immediate causes. The remote cause was the feeling of marginalisation by, particularly the easterners. Then that led a group of young military radicals headed by the Igbos to intervene in a coup which led to the killing of top northern military officer and leaders. That coupe, which was called an Igbo coup led to a counter coup, which was a revenge by a group of northern military officers against the killing of their brothers in the first military coup.
This counter coup, led to the killing of the head of state and so many Igbo military officers. It also led to a kind of pogrom in the north. And as a result of the inability of Nigerian leaders to find an amicable solution to the problem because the leaders of the east now had to threaten to secede, if amicable solution to the problem was not reached. So, the inability of the leaders, both from the northern and eastern side to find a solution to the problem led to the civil war.
After the war, no victor, no vanquished was declared and the 3 Rs was inaugurated. First, going through the reasons leaders of the military coupe gave for the coupe, principal of which is corruption, and marginalisation and so on. If you look at what has happened in the country since then, it appears we have not learnt a lot. We have not learnt any serious lessons from the event of the civil war.
Particularly now, at no point in the history of Nigeria do certain sections of the country feel more marginalised than now. The feeling of inclusiveness in governance is not there. So, flexibility of trying to bring the various sections of the country together by running an inclusive government is lacking and it’s the reason for the first coupe and other subsequent problems that led to the civil war.
There is also the issue of corruption which was a major issue pointed out by the leaders of the coupe. The problem is very much around with us. It has to be taken care of.
Then the issue of restructuring. Remember that at Aburi, in an attempt to prevent the civil war, there was a meeting called by the then Ghanaian head of state, of the two sides to the conflict and a major issue discussed was restructuring. To restructure the country so that there would be a certain level of autonomy, so that various parts of the country would be able to run their own affairs while also maintaining the federation. So, what we have now is what some scholars would prescribe as a centralising train in Nigeria’s federalism, where the centre controls everything. Nigeria is not running true federalism.
There will be no peace in the country unless there is proper restructuring. It will now help solve the security challenges and some other socio-economic problems facing the country.
Are the agitations and complaints of marginalisation in the southeast justifiable, taking into consideration the factors you have raised?
After the civil war, there was this issue of no victor, no vanquished, which means that the country belongs to all of us and the programme of rehabilitation, reconstruction and reintegration came into being but was never implemented. So, the eastern part has been neglected both in terms of leadership of this country and economic development. You will discover that most of the progress that have been made in the southeast were through individual efforts, not actually as a result of federal government intervention. So, the agitation for separation was borne out of the abandonment of the three Rs which Gowon initiated at the end of the war.
But these separatist agitations can be addressed if there is an inclusive government. If attention is paid to every part of the country. It’s not just about the southeast but other parts are crying of marginalisation, including the South-South. I am not in support of separation from the country, but those who are agitating are doing so because of frustration.
There have been allegations that the state governors have not done enough. We have been heaping a lot of blames on the federal government while the state governments and even the local governments which are closer to the people. Are we shifting the blame to the federal government? Or do you think the state governments have done what they are supposed to do?
I agree to a certain level that the blame should not be heaped on the federal government alone, that is why we are going back to the issue of restructuring by amending the constitution. For instance, the local government system where the state and local run a joint account has been a major problem. Local government has been an appendage of state government. Over the years, local government has been emasculated and their resources confiscated by state governors. So, something drastic has to be done, like an amendment to the constitution to scrap the state/local government joint account and ensure autonomy for the local government.
There is also the feeling that the resources managed by the Federal Government is enormous. And that is the idea for the call for restructuring, so that there will be more decentralisation of powers and resources. Also, in terms of infrastructural development, many state governors, particularly in the southeast, are doing wonderfully well. Most of the intra-city roads are being rehabilitated. If you go to Anambra State for instance, you will discover that intra state roads are not the major problems. The only problems we have now are the inter-state roads. The Federal Government roads from Onitsha to Enugu, from Port Harcourt to Enugu and so on, have been in a mess. And this has been a major source of agitation by people. So, it’s either the federal government hands over the so-called federal roads to the state or if it insists on holding to that, let it do its work.